DAVE HUMPHERYS

"Da Hump" ... Winner of Pro Tour-Washington, D.C. 1999 with fellow Hall of Famers Darwin Kastle and Rob Dougherty of Your Move Games ... Five top-4 Pro Tour finishes ... Two Grand Prix titles ... Cerebral approach to the game matched by few in the history of the Tour.

DAVE HUMPHERYSPROFILE

Dave Humpherys terrorized his local Magic scene with his prowess on the $1,000 tournament circuit long before there was a Pro Tour. He was invited to the very first Pro Tour on the basis of his win at the Ice Age Prerelease tournament in Toronto earlier that year. The Pro Tour gave him an international stage to display his machine-like approach to the game.

Dave's first four events yielded finishes of 25th, 15th, 16th, and 18th. He had a couple of heartbreaking ninth-place finishes in Paris 1997 and Rome 1999 before he finally basked in the Sunday spotlight. New York 1999 was the event that finally broke the dam for him and he went on to rack up five such appearances in his career.

"I felt honored and relieved," Dave revealed after learning of his election. "I was disappointed that I did relatively poorly in the ballot last year so this was reassuring. I realized getting in after this year would be an uphill battle."

Looking back at that first Pro Tour, Humpherys said it definitely stood out as a new experience.

"It was on a grander scale and with an all-new scope, with tons of new faces everywhere," he said. "It was a bit of a roller coaster for me starting 5-0 and losing the last two rounds to miss the top 16 cut in what was then a very short Swiss event."

While he looked back at that first event very fondly, there should be little surprise as to his favorite memory playing on the Pro Tour – that honor would be reserved for Pro Tour–Washington D.C. in 1999.

"The best feeling was winning the first team PT," said Dave, who teamed for that event with Darwin Kastle and Rob Dougherty, whom Dave joins in the Hall of Fame. "It was a new and challenging event versus a lot of good competition. It was especially rewarding to share the win with teammates."

Now he shares lifetime Level 3 Players Club status and a Hall of Fame ring with his Your Move Games teammates. "I can say I really ever thought there would even really be anything like a Hall of Fame for Magic," admitted Dave who appreciated not only the commendation but the support it offered him to continue playing by virtue of becoming a Level 3 player for life. "It's an honor and an achievement. In terms of the recognition and the related perks, it is also a strong incentive to play again."

Humpherys said that he worked with a great number of people throughout his years on the Pro Tour and wishes to thank all of them for making the Pro Tour a fun place to be. But one name definitely stands out.

"If I had to single out one person it would almost certainly be Darwin Kastle, as he was a constant source of encouragement. We prepared for and ventured to countless events, even before the notion of a Pro Tour existed. He was the only player I worked with through all those years."

DAVE HUMPHERYSCAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Dave was a monster on the East Coast tournament scene before there was ever a Pro Tour.

Qualified for the very first Pro Tour by winning the Ice Age prerelease in Toronto.

Dave finished 25th, 16th, 15th, and 18th in his first four professional events – a consistency he would display throughout his career.

Despite solid numbers, Top 8 success eluded Dave early in his career. Tiebreakers had him finishing 9th at Pro Tour–Paris in 1997 with an innovative (nearly) mono-blue control deck.

His similarly outside the box creation Free Whaley also left him decimal points off from Sunday in Rome 1999.

He finally smashed through to Sunday later that season with a Top 4 at Pro Tour–New York – his first after two near misses.

With the Top 8 drought off the books Dave followed up with a Pro Tour win in Washington D.C. alongside his Hall of Fame teammates Rob Dougherty and Darwin Kastle as Team Your Move Games.

That same team configuration won Grand Prix–Columbus.

Dave racked up seven Grand Prix Top 8 finishes in his career including his win in Minneapolis on the wings of Desolation Angel.

The next few years offered 'only' a handful of Top 16 finishes until his fourth-place finish at Pro Tour–New Orleans in 2002 playing the YMG Reanimator monstrosity.

Dave still had two more Top 8 finishes in him, both at World Championships. He finished 4th in 2002 and 2003.

Even as Dave's career was winding down he displayed the same machine-like approach to the game that was the hallmark of the beginning of his career by putting together a string of Top 64 and Top 32 finishes over his last two years of play.